“It is always darkest before the dawn. The darkest day in the history of the American civil rights movement was in 1857 when the Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott, making slavery legal north of the 36th parallel. That was the darkest day for the abolitionists. But when we look back in history, we forget that this was only five years before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in September of 1862.

“I understand the anger; I understand the frustration; I understand the feeling of betrayal; and I understand the profound disappointment of those who came to Albany today thinking they could get married tomorrow. But I am also here to tell you that we are not back to square one.

“Governors don’t come to the Senate floor after losing a vote. This one does, because this is a fight that is bigger than one legislative vote. This is a civil rights issue. Marriage equality is as important as the emancipation of any group from oppression and the granting of equal rights to any community.

“I believe in my heart that if people had voted their consciences today, we would be celebrating marriage equality tonight. That did not happen. As disappointed as we are today, let’s get up tomorrow and redouble our efforts. We are going to lay the foundation to make people feel comfortable to vote their conscience and not fear political backlash.

“Now we know who we have to talk to. We are going to quash the intimidation; we are going to alleviate the pressure; we are going to move this issue back to the floor of the Senate and we are going to have marriage equality in New York State and equal rights for everybody.”

The Senate debate on marriage equality was streamed live over the internet and received over 10,000 views setting a record for the most watched Senate hearing to date.

2 Comments:

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First off, congratulations for the Senators who DID vote on the right side for equality for all. They are truly courageous and deserved to be commended.

For those that didn’t - whether they feared political backlash or intimidation, we the VOTERS should let it be known. When you vote AGAINST equality, when you vote AGAINST civil rights, when you vote FOR discrimination, we remember!!!

If you fear political backlash from the right, you should expect the same from the left. Not because you gave in to demands, but because you are a lawmaker KNOWINGLY and WILLINGLY voted on something that puts people into SECOND CLASS STATUS!!!

These people knew what they were doing, and therefore the voters of New York should do all they can to ensure they do NOT get re-elected!

Sure, there are other issues like the economy, unemployment, education, etc… But when you as a lawmaker don’t even see me as an equal citizen, an equal and participating constituent that you are supposed to represent, I wouldn’t give a HOT DAMN what your positions were on other issues.

THE FACT YOU SEE ME AS A SECOND CLASS CITIZEN IS BY FAR THE MOST VISIBLE ISSUE AMONG ANYTHING ELSE!!!

Sometimes, I wonder how these people sleep at night knowing how many homes they help destroy by not treating them as equal.